When the radio stations were sold during 1983, the WGAN call letters were sold with them. WGAN-TV then changed its call code to the current "WGME-TV" on December 15 of that year. It remained the main station of Guy Gannett Communications until 1998, when it was sold with most of the company's television stations to the Sinclair Broadcast Group.

WGME owner Sinclair Broadcast Group and Time Warner Cable disputed the terms of their retransmission consent agreement that expired on December 31, 2010. The agreement was extended to January 14, 2011 while the parties continued to negotiate.[2] An agreement in principle to resolve the dispute followed soon thereafter[3] and was finalized in February 2011.[4]

On January 8, 2016, Sinclair announced that American Sports Network would begin on January 16 as a dedicated digital-multicast network in 10 cities, including Portland on WGME.[5]

Historically associated with a newspaper, channel 13's newscasts dominated the ratings in Portland for many years.[citation needed] However, since 1989, WCSH overtook WGME and has dominated in the ratings.[citation needed] WGME produced 24 hours and 30 minutes of produced news content every week, including early-morning, noon, afternoon drive-time, and late-night news programs.[citation needed] WGME also produced 17 hours of weekly news content for partner station WPFO.[citation needed] When taking both stations into account, WGME produced the most local-news content in the Portland market, though its primary station carries the least amount of local news content among the market's three major network affiliates.[citation needed]

Former news team for Live At 5 and News 13 at 6, Kim Block and Doug Rafferty were a news team from the mid-1990s until the mid-2000s. Kim Block is one of the most recognized television journalists in both the Portland market and in the State of Maine/New Hampshire.[citation needed] Block has been the lead anchor at WGME for more than three decades, starting in 1981.[citation needed] Rafferty reduced his reporting hours after suffering a stroke during a live cut-in of a syndicated program during the mid-2000s, quitting the anchor desk for a behind-the-scene technical job at the station.[citation needed] He retired during 2012 to become the Public Relations and Education Head at the Maine State Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.[citation needed] Other longtime anchors include weeknight announcer Gregg Lagerquist and morning announcer Jeff Peterson. Sports anchor and director Dave Eid has been with WGME since 1996. Longtime meteorologist Charlie Lopresti has been with the station for more than a decade.[citation needed]

Starting February 5, 2007, WGME began producing a 10 p.m. newscast on Fox affiliate WPFO after establishing a news-share agreement. Known on-air as Fox 23 News at 10, it is the first prime-time broadcast in the market; as of September 2019, there is now a half-hour 10:00 newscast on CW affiliate WPXT (channel 51).[citation needed] During 2010, due to a revenue-share agreement with WPFO, the station expanded this newscast to an hour and began a two-hour-long morning program on WPFO named Good Day Maine. WPFO pays WGME a fee along with a share of revenue realized from the newscast. Good Day Maine was shortened to one hour by October 2013.[citation needed]

The station began a news partnership with Maine Today Media, owner of its former newspaper sisters: the Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal, Morning Sentinel, and Maine Sunday Telegram. In addition to its main studios, WGME operates a Lewiston/Auburn Bureau. A second bureau is in Augusta near the Maine State House. News 13 also has a partnership with the Lewiston/Auburn Sun Journal, using the source very frequently for stories in the twin cities. WGME also shares newsgathering material with WPFO, gaining WGME access to both CBS Newspath and FOX News video footage for the use of all newscasts on both WPFO and on WGME. WGME meteorologists provide the weather forecasts for the Portland Press Herald, the Maine Sunday Telegram, and a variety of radio stations in the Portland market. When providing regional and state coverage, WGME and ABC affiliate WVII-TV in Bangor share content and video footage.[citation needed]

WGME does not produce local weekend morning newscasts, unlike the NBC and ABC affiliates in the Portland market. Instead, it broadcasts infomercials or E/I (educational and informational) children's programming early on weekends. For national news, the station carries the CBS News-produced CBS This Morning: Saturday on Saturday mornings, and the CBS News-produced Sunday Morning program.

On October 31, 2013, station owner Sinclair Broadcasting bought all non-license assets of WPFO Fox 23 for $13.6 million. The licensing assets were sold to Cunningham Broadcasting on November 20, 2013, for $3.4 million.[citation needed] Cunningham Broadcasting closed business relationships with Sinclair in stations around the country.[citation needed] The sale made WPFO (FOX) the companion station of WGME (CBS), essentially creating an unofficial duopoly in the Portland market. Though throughout the State of Maine, Gannett owns both WCSH 6 in Portland and WLBZ 2 in Bangor, both NBC affiliates, creating what could be considered a statewide commercial duopoly. In New Hampshire, Hearst Television owns WMUR 9 and in Portland, Maine, WMTW 8, both ABC affiliates. WMTW can be viewed in portions of New Hampshire, overlapping the WMUR viewing area, essentially creating a dual-state duopoly.[relevant? – discuss]

On September 11, 2017, WGME launched a half-hour 7:00 pm weeknight newscast. The opportunity came about as a result of CBS Television Distribution's decision to cancel The Insider, which had previously aired on WGME in the 7:30 p.m. weeknight time slot.

WGME began broadcasting in 720p high definition (HD) on December 18, 2011, with a new wood-styled set designed by Devlin Design Group. WGME's new HD set included video display monitors on either end of the set for anchor stand-up reporting, a 12-monitor video wall used to display a single panoramic video feed or 2, 3, or 12 individual video feeds. A smaller anchor desk at the video wall is used for FOX 23 broadcasts Good Day Maine and News 13 on FOX at 10 pm. The anchor desk included a large monitor behind the anchors which typically showed a skyline image or the News 13 logo. The entire set included an array of light panels and light boxes. The weather office is fully visible to viewers, with a small desk for the meteorologist above which a four-monitor video wall could show graphics. There was also a traditional green screen and a forecasting system on a raised platform for live reporting of severe weather. The HD newscasts introduced a new graphics package also used by Sinclair station WZTV.

WGME's newscasts were referred to as CBS 13 News as of April 2013. The newscasts on WPFO were referred to as FOX 23 News as of February 2014.

On February 28, 2013, WGME's weather department rolled out new graphics to its Weather Central forecasting system, as part of a new graphics package from parent company Sinclair Broadcasting. It is slowly being introduced on other Sinclair stations.

In early 2014, while WGME-TV CBS 13 News received a new graphics package now seen on-air, News 13 Daybreak changed its name to Good Day Maine On CBS 13. On September 15, 2014, WPFO-TV FOX 23 premiered the WGME-TV CBS 13-produced FOX 23 News @ 6:30 PM featuring the combined (6 pm and 11 pm) anchor team and a new format.